Showing results for "perceived"

• past participle of perceive.
• past tense form of perceive.

perceived

American  

[per-seevd] / pərˈsivd /

adjective

1. taken in by the senses; heard, seen, felt, etc..

   Spontaneous memories are activated by specific signals from the parts of the brain that deal with perceived stimuli like smells, pictures, and words.

2. detected, discerned, or recognized, often without corroboration by others.

   He fails to appreciate that the perceived "backlash" against his post was not an expression of reluctance to accept change, just disagreement with his specific proposal.

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verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of perceive.

Other Word Forms

• perceivedness
  noun
• unperceived
  adjective
• well-perceived
  adjective
• perceivedly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of perceived

perceive ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

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Explanation

If you sense something is true by instinct, but not necessarily by fact, you can describe that sense as perceived. If you suspect that your neighbor's dog might be dangerous, you can say the dog is a perceived threat to your family's safety. The adjective perceived has its Latin roots in per, meaning "thoroughly," and capere, meaning "to grasp." Today it retains a sense of grasping something mentally or sensing it. Oddly, the word has two conflicting meanings: first, something you infer or suspect, rather than detecting with your senses. The second meaning, however, is quite the opposite: something sensed through your actual senses, especially those of sight or hearing.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

perceived

Giniger said she felt a "responsibility" to influence through her vote how "Jews and Israelis are perceived in the world today" at a time of rising antisemitism.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

They become expensive when borrowers are perceived to be at increased risk of defaulting.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

It can reduce soreness and improve perceived recovery after exercise.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

The limits “cannot be clearly explained by differences in real or perceived quality in the instruction of full-time or adjunct faculty,” wrote Woodward, the department’s third-ranking official.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

This time, I perceived something near to us—a dark shape upon the water but a few rods off.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

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Related Words

• anticipated
• recognized

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